Page 11 of One (The Towns Syndicate #2)

King

B oogie and I weren’t afraid of much. I could name everything on one hand and my biggest fear was Ally, now that she had a target the size of Texas on her back. Lately I had a foreboding sense of something about to go wrong, and it had been nagging at me for over a week.

The moment Mars told me someone had tripped a sensor at Christmas Town, I knew something wasn’t right, but when he said several more sensors had gone off, I panicked like I never had before. It made my heart cease beating. This is what I had been waiting for subconsciously.

Boogie and I were doing a delivery an hour away and thank fucking Lucifer because I could have lost my shit if I had been three hours away.

I weaved in and out of traffic with Boogie close to me.

I hit it on the open road and we arrived in forty-five minutes.

I parked in the back, threw my helmet off and took my keys. I called Maverick immediately.

“Yeah?” She answered on the first ring.

“Talk to me,” I said, pulling out my gun.

“Perimeter is secure, Ruger and Winchester are in the woods,” she said. “You need to come to the kitchen now.”

The last part she said quietly.

“On our way,” I clipped.

Boogie tilted his head as he studied me. He had his skull balaclava already on.

“What are we walking into?”

“Everythingis secure,” I said, about to knock on the door.

“What's wrong?” Boogie grabbed my arm.

“Nothing, I just need to see her,” I said, pulling away before knocking.

The door opened and I was greeted with a gun to my face. Lance pushed the gun away, motioning for us to follow him.

“Did you find anyone?” Boogie asked.

“No one, nothing, not even tracks,” he clipped. “Winchester and Ruger are still out, but we saw nothing when we were out earlier, and I don’t expect for them to find anything.”

“Maybe it wasn’t anything,” I said, feeling hopeful until he looked back at me.

His grim expression made me uneasy.

“What the fuck happened?” Boogie snapped as we turned into the kitchen.

I immediately locked eyes with Ally. She looked bored and irritated except I saw the small flicker of fear. A man sat across from her as I studied him until he looked at me. He stood up and nodded at me, doing the same to Boogie.

“Hey, Doll,” I said, pulling her towards me.

She pulled away, but I didn’t let her as I held on to her tighter.

“I’m fine,” she said in a bored tone. “Nothing happened.”

“What the fuck is this?” Boogie snarled.

“It was in her bedroom,” Maverick said, as I turned my attention to the clothing in the bag and the note on top of it.

I stilled at the words on the paper, and took a deep breath before I did something irrational. Boogie reached for the bag when Maverick slapped his hand away. Ally froze in my arms.

“Don’t get your prints on it,” Maverick clipped. “I want to get it analyzed. We might get something from it.”

Boogie glared at her, a knife already in his hand and if I cared even an ounce, I would be worried for her.

Maverick had a hand on her gun as we waited to see what would happen, but I enjoyed the slight fear she had in her eyes.

The triplets might be feared, but Boogie made your nightmares look like child's play.

“Boogie,” Ally said, pushing away from me.

I crushed her to me when she glared at me.

“King, she’s protecting me,” she said, annoyed.

I rolled my eyes and let her go. That's the only reason Maverick was allowed to live.

“Boogie,” Ally cooed, laying her hand on his arm. “We need any evidence to point us in the right direction.”

“You know I’m?—”

“Mav, shut up,” Ally clipped. “Boogie, come on.”

She stood in front of him, and he finally saw her. He snaked an arm around her waist to bring their bodies flush.

“How the fuck did someone get inside?” I snarled and looked at everyone in the room leaving the unknown person for last.

“King and Boogie, this is Arthur. He was with me or Maverick the entire time he was here,” Ally said before I could question him.

Boogie glanced at me before we walked up to him.

“Guys, he?—”

Lance pulled him back.

“We are going to make this nice and simple,” I said, pulling a knife out.

“What are you here for?” Boogie placed his gun over his dick.

Arthur shivered as he looked between us, fear etched onto his face.

“I… I’m… I’m—” He swallowed audibly. “I’m here for an interview.” He said quickly. “I’m not stu… stupid enough to fuck with your girl or with the triplets.”

“Mav and I searched for him,” Lance said, handing over his file.

I grabbed it, flipped through it while Boogie still had his gun on his dick.

“He was with me when it happened,” Ally snapped.

“He could be working with someone,” Boogie retorted. “He was the distraction.”

“Who was he distracting me from? Everyone else was out here.” She sighed.

“There’s nothing out there,” Winchester said as he walked in with Ruger right behind him. “Manuel is missing too.”

“His room is empty,” Ruger said, leaning against a wall by the table.

I looked over at Lance.

“Fuck,” he growled. “Gather the other men.”

“Seems like you're off the hoo….hooo…hook.” Boogie teased Arthur.

“Boogie,” Ally chastised him. “Let me point a gun at your dick and see how you feel.”

“That sounds like foreplay, Little One,” he said, nipping at her shoulder.

Ally rolled her eyes at him as he turned around to talk to Maverick. “Thanks for cooperating with Arthur. I’ll let you know my decision.”

“Of course, just a little advice?” he asked.

“Sure,” she shrugged.

“Make an example out of Manuel,” he said. “Make them fear you, bring them to their knees because there will always be some asshole who will thinkhe can do better than you. Show them Noelle doesn’t take any prisoners.”

Ally nodded. “Thank you.”

“Solid advice,” I said, liking him a little.

“Let her do it because she needs to show everyone that she handles her business,” he said with a smile before walking away.

Ally smiled. “Yeah, solid advice.”

I reached for her, and wrapped my arms around her.

“I’m ok,” she whispered as he held me close.

I nodded, needing to feel her and kind of wishing we had gotten to blow someone's dick off. I might need to blow off some steam as the need for violence simmered through me.

“Shall we go hunting?” Boogie walked up to us.

“What are the chances he is close?” I sighed.

“Slim, but while the triplets question some people it wouldn’t hurt to scout the area,” Boogie said, his eyes light with excitement.

I looked at Ally, not wanting to be away from her, but if we caught Manuel we could learn a lot.

“Let’s go,” I said before kissing Ally deeply.

She moaned and ran a hand through my hair. I sucked hard on her bottom lip before pulling away. Her cheeks were flushed, and her lips were swollen, tempting enough to stay here and fuck her.

“Fuck, Ally,” Boogie growled and lowered his mask, kissing her quickly against me. “When we come back you better be waiting for us naked in your bed.”

“Yes, I need you,” she whimpered against his mouth before he covered his mouth.

“Let’s go hunting,” Boogie said as he walked past me.

“Be—” Ally stopped herself.

“Be what, Little Doll?” I asked, knowing what she was going to say.

"Be careful," she said softly.

“Oh Doll, I think Manuel is the one who should have been careful,” I said, tucking her hair behind her head. “I’ll bring his head back on a platter for you.”

“So romantic,” Ally grinned.

“Only for you,” I said, kissing her nose. “Be naked when we come back.”

“Maybe,” she said as I walked away.

I narrowed my eyes at her as she smirked.

“Don’t worry, King, we will keep her safe while you are gone,” Winchester said, pulling her close.

Visions of strangling Winchester invaded my mind as I walked back towards them. Ally elbowed him in the nuts, and he doubled over, which made me feel better.

“He’s harmless,” Boogie said, grabbing my arm.

“Why do you always defend them?” I grumbled as he pushed me to the hallway.

“They are harmless, they do it cause they know you will get upset,” he chuckled. “You let them get to you too quickly and they love it.”

“It’s because you let them,” I snapped.

“You need Boogie to protect you?” He opened the back door.

I rolled my eyes. “I need you to keep the triplets in line.”

“Nah, I like my little minions feral, that way no one fucks with them,” he said slipping his helmet on. “They incite fear, and I like that.”

He was right, while we were feared, sometimes it was nice threatening to send the triplets to do our dirty work.

I hated that they fucked with me instead of everyone else, but he was right, they annoyed me.

It also didn’t help that I let them know every chance I got because I hated that they didn’t cower from me, at least all the time.

“Let’s go find this asshole,” Boogie said, getting on his bike as I did the same.

“Let’s go,” I said, turning on my bike and revving my engine.

The thrill of the hunt warmed me up as we took off and the promise of a kill made the cold November air non-existent.

Manuel wasn’t a smart man. He had holed up too close to Christmas town and Boogie and I found him within two hours. We dragged him back, chained him up and beat him bloody within the hour. He was just a minion given a simple task for a shit ton of money that he still had on him.

“The money is clean,” Maverick said, coming back into the room as Boogie drilled a nail into Manuel’s hand. “Ruger and Win are checking for prints, but I don’t see us finding any.”

I nodded as she handed me a hundred-dollar bill.

“I don’t think we will find anything else out,” I said, inspecting the bill.

“I don’t think so either,” she said, watching Boogie as he flipped a coin deciding what would happen next.

I studied her for a moment waiting for that gaze and as quickly as it came, it left.

Maverick had always had a thing for Boogie.

The triplets always looked up to Boogie and no matter how much time had passed, it seemed like their infatuation wasn’t going anywhere.

It was another reason I didn’t like them around.

A very small part of me wondered that if Boogie had had the choice would he have left me for them in the beginning.

They had always had a bond that I had been left out of, and I was a bit jealous of.

Manuel’s screams interrupted my dangerous thoughts.

I looked over to see his finger missing as blood gushed out.

Boogie had been asking Manuel a question, but I think he was going into shock.

It didn’t look like we were going to get any other information from him.

I sighed to cover up the chuckle that threatened to come out.

“You’re not getting anything out of him now, dude is about to pass out,” I said, walking to them.

“He’s done anyways, I’m just fuckingwith him at this point,” Boogie shrugged.

“Maybe Ruger can see if he has any information?” Maverick suggested.

“He can try, but I doubt it,” Boogie said, grabbing the towel I handed him to wipe his hands. “It was a clean transaction with someone anonymous.”

“He’s probably bored,” she said, inspecting Manuel who was whimpering now. “If not, maybe we can use him for target practice for your girlfriend.”

I narrowed my eyes at her, wondering where she was going with this.

“You are idiots.” She rolled her eyes. “She’s weak.”

“Excuse me?” Boogie growled, grabbed Maverick by the throat and pushed her against the wall with a knife at her heart.

“None of us will be here to protect her every minute of the day. Babying her isn’t protecting her,” she wheezed, gasping for air.

“Boog, let her explain,” I said, hating that I was defending her.

He didn’t move, only easing up on his grasp on her neck a little. She took a couple of deep breaths.

“If you want her to become the leader of Christmas Town, you need to show her how to be a killer, show her how to defend herself. Give her the tools she needs to be the fucking ruthless queen she is,” she snapped.

“Right now, everyone is rushing to protect her, but one day one of us won’t be there and then what will happen?

She’s capable or else she wouldn’t have survived the shit Kris put her through, so give her the tools to survive in this new world. ”

Boogie growled, pushed off the wall and walked away. Maverick took a deep breath, watching him walk away.

“You know I’m right,” she said, watching Boogie. “Or are you hoping she leaves this behind and comes with you to Halloween Town to be a kept woman?”

I clenched my jaw, hating how perceptive she was.

“We just want her safe,” I said in a flat tone.

Maverick finally looked at me.

“Fine, then I will teach her,” she said, before walking away.

“Thank you,” I muttered.

“What was that?” she yelled, with a Cheshire grin.

“You heard it,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Yeah, and I’ll make sure you remember it forever,” she cackled.

I shook my head as I went to wash my hands, seeing the water turn from red to clear.

I needed a shower, but I wanted my Doll first. The compound was quiet as I walked the dark hallways as everyone slept.

I opened the door to Ally’s room to see Boogie kneeling on the floor at the edge of the bed with her legs over his shoulders with her head thrown back, moaning his name.

Need curled in my abdomen seeing them together as I stripped out of my clothes slowly. Ally watched me through half-lidded eyes, one of her hands in Boogie's blond hair as she rolled her hips against his face. He moaned as she bit her lip looking over at me.

I walked to her quickly, threading my hands through her hair roughly and kissing her with a need to devour her as anxiety ran through my veins. Ally was mine, was ours, and no one would take what was ours. I would make her a queen and watch her destroy the world if that meant she was safe.

“Tell me you’re ours,” I growled against her lips, pulling her hair, needing to hear her say it.

“Yours,” she gasped. “Always yours.”

“Even in death, you will be ours,” I said, before kissing her to calm the storm brewing in my mind.